On March 27 the Trump administration scored a big win with the Virginia arrest of a top MS-13 leader. The day before (March 26) alleged Hamas-supporter and Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was picked up by ICE agents.
So which arrest did the leftist news outlets care more about? The arrest of the Turkish student Ozturk.
From March 26 (when the cables first started reporting on Ozturk’s arrest) through March 27 ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC devoted a total of 119 minutes, 18 seconds to the Ozturk case, but just 11 minutes, 42 seconds to the MS-13 leader capture.
That’s ten times more coverage to Ozturk than the capture of MS-13 leader Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos.
In fact, ABC, CBS, NBC didn’t devote a single second to the violent terrorist gang leader’s arrest.
So why the discrepancy? Whereas the arrest of MS-13 leader was a great PR win for Team Trump the footage of Ozturk being arrested on the street prompted leftist anchors, reporters and pundits to decry what they called the “authoritarian” actions of the Trump administration.
On the March 27 edition of MSNBC’s Deadline:White House, Alicia Menendez gravely warned: “The arrest of a Tufts University student captured on video is the latest worrying sign for colleges and universities under the increasing authoritarianism of the Trump administration.”
On March 26 CNN News Central host Erica Hill alerted her viewers: “This just into CNN, some chilling video. It shows the moment that a Tufts University grad student from Turkey is arrested and taken into ICE custody.”
Over on NBC, anchor Lester Holt opened the March 27 NBC Nightly News this way: “Good evening and welcome. With the Trump administration widening its net against foreigners here both legally and illegally, a rally was held today near Boston in support of a Tufts university doctorate candidate whose arrest by ICE, despite her legal status, has cast a chill across some college campuses.”
Executive Editor of NewsBusters Tim Graham observed:
“A disparity like this demonstrates that the media prefer one narrative over the other. Trump having a success in arresting a gang leader is too positive to underline. They prefer the narrative that Trump is some kind of dictator arresting foreigners for speaking too freely about the horror of Israel. They don’t even have the shame to notice that Hamas isn’t exactly a free-speech paragon.”
Overall, MSNBC allocated the most time on the Ozturk arrest (58 minutes, 48 seconds.) CNN spent 50 minutes, 9 seconds on the Turkish student.
NBC aired 6 minutes, 6 seconds on the Turkish student. CBS provided 2 minutes, 39 seconds on Ozturk. ABC delivered 1 minute, 39 seconds of time to the Tufts University student case.
On the MS-13 leader’s arrest, MSNBC offered a tiny 3 minutes, 43 seconds amount of coverage. CNN aired just 7 minutes, 59 seconds on the gang leader capture.
ABC, CBS, NBC aired zero seconds on the MS-13 leader being brought in.
For this study MRC analysts reviewed all the segments on the MS-13 leader and Rumeysa Ozturk arrests aired on ABC, CBS, NBC evening and morning news shows as well as all of the morning, daytime and evening programs on CNN and MSNBC on March 26 and March 27.
